Final Anthropology Exam

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Who proposed a theory of evolution called "Acquired Characteristics" that suggested that animals and plants changed over time by parents passing on to offspring traits that had been modified during their lifetime, but helped the adapt better to their environment.

Lamarck

What kinds of evidence do archeologists and paleoanthropologists rely on to learn about the past?

Fossils, ecofacts, features, and artifacts

Why dont archeologists routinely excavate entire sites?

Because they want to leave part of the site for the future and the use of better research techniques and because it is expensive.

Participant observation refers to:

the practive of immersing oneself in the language and customs of a society

The procedure that will be followed to measure a variable is called:

the operational definition

Anthropologists can generate interpretations on the basis of worldwide comparisons by looking for differences between those societies having, and those lacking a particular characteristic. This type of research is called_______.

Cross-cultural Research

A tautology should be part of any good explanation in anthropological research.

False

Why is mutation important in evolution?

Because it replenishes the supply of variability in a species

The development of a new species is called:

Speciation

___________ is the process whereby genes pass from one population to another population through mating and reproduction.

Gene flow

Evidence of evolution (change over time) has been observed in nature by scientists. Which of the following is observed evidence supporting the theory of evolution?

A gene is part of a complex molecule called DNA; it is a particular section that contains the code responsible for a particular trait

According to information presented in class, your instructor found a statistical association between the practice of the siesta and the presence of malaria.

True

Sickle-cell anemia is a disease where red blood cells take on a sickled appearance. Carrying one copy of the sickle cell allele (that is, being heterozygous for the trait) can provide protection against:

Malaria

What is acclimatization?

Physiological adjustments in response to changes in an individual's environment

The variation of skin color in humans (and other mammals) is explained by:

Gloger's rule

The variation of limb length in humans (and other mammals) is explained by:

Allen's rule

Studies of various populations of humans show that adult height is affected by:

Genetics, nutrition, disease, stress (All of the above)

According to material presented in lecture, the amount of melanin in human skin varies to protect the body from UVR. Which of the following effects of exposure to UVR has potentially the greatest impact on human evolution?

Destruction of Folic Acid (Vitamin B6)

Which of the following is an example of a way culture can affect natural selection?

Dairy farming/pastoralism, Medicine, Domestication of plants and animals, Heating and Air Conditioning units (All of the Above)

Which of the following is NOT part of the complex of primate traits?

Prehensile hands, Dependence on learned behavior over instinct, Opposable thumbs, Stereoscopic vision (All of the above are part of the complex of primate traits)

Which of the following statements is TRUE

Apes and Monkeys are related, but different kinds of primates.

Which of the following statements is TRUE

Chimpanzees make tools

You and a friend are visiting the playground at a park. You see a primate on the "monkey" bars. You immediately turn to your friend and make an accurate observation. Which of the following could be your accurate observation?

Because the primate is hanging on using its prehensile tail, it must be a New World Monkey and because the primate is hanging casually by one arm it must be an Ape.

Many skeletal features of the primates (such as having a clavicle or collarbone) reflect a tree dwelling or ________ adaptation.

Arboreal

Gorillas and chimpanzees on the ground use which of the following forms of locomotion?

Knuckle walking

According to the book Dancing Skeletons, what is Marasmus?

It is a disease caused by a diet low in calories and low in protein

According to Dancing Skeletons, what is the attitude towards the elderly in Mali?

They are well respected and people kneel before them

According to the book Dancing Skeletons, what is lactational amenorrhea?

It is the lack of a menstrual period while a woman is breastfeeding an infant

According to the book Dancing Skeletons, what reason is given for female circumcision?

It is tradition

According to the book Dancing Skeletons, what kind of anthropologist is Katherine Dettwyler?

Physical/biological anthropologist

According to the book Dancing Skeletons, what is the focus of Dettwyler's research?

Her research is focused on traditional infant feeding practices and their effect on children's growth

Anthropology may be described simply as the study of:

Humans

As a profession, applied or practicing anthropology is explicitly concerned with:

Making anthropological knowledge useful

Anthropology takes a(n) ___________ approach that includes a wide geographic and historical range.

Holistic

Which of the following would NOT be associated with cultural anthropology?

Human paleontology

In class we discussed that many cultures have a view that the body should be kept in:

Equilibrium (for example, not too hot or too cold)

Which of the following is LEAST likely to interest an archeologist professionally?

Dinosaur bones

Which of the following is NOT usually considered a subfield or subdiscipline of anthropology?

Ethnography

According to the information presented in class and your textbook, a forensic anthropologist is MOST likely to have training in:

Physical/biological anthropology

According to information presented in class and your textbook, an anthropologist working in Cultural Resource Management (CRM) is MOST likely to have training in:

Archaeology

Which term refers to the health-related beliefs, knowledge, and practices of a cultural group?

Ethnomedicine

Which term refers specifically to the system in which physicians are trained?

Biomedicine

In the context of cultural anthropology, a theoretical orientation is a general attitude about how ______is/are to be explained.

Cultural phenomena

Stratigraphy is an absolute dating method, which can tell you precisely how old a stone artifact is.

False

Claude Levi-Strauss has been the leading proponent of an approach to cultural analysis called:

Structuralism

Which theoretical approach does your professor find most useful?

Bioculturalism

The theoretical approach known as ______assumes that attention must be paid to external forces, such as colonialism, to explain the way a society changes and adapts.

Political economy

Early evolutionists like Tylor and Morgan were interested in:

The evolution of cultural characteristics in human societies.

Charles Darwin (and Alfred Wallace) developed a new theory of evolution. The truly innovative part of the theory was the mechanism by which evolution occurs. What is the mechanism in their theory?

Natural selection

According to the mDNA evidence, all living humans are descended from a single female (or group of related females). Where and when did this common ancestor live?

Africa, 200,000 years ago

In class we discussed the presence of discrete skeletal traits that are consistent within geographic regions from Homo erectus to the present (i.e. shovel shaped incisors in Asia). This is evidence used to best support which hypothesis?

Multiregional Hypothesis

The tool assemblage that is associated with Neanderthals is called:

Mousterian

The Levalloisian technique was innovative in that it allowed flake tools of a predetermined size to be produced from a shaped core.

True

There is archaeological evidence to support the theory that the extinction of Neanderthals is the result of systematic extermination by modern Homo sapiens.

False

Which of the following is characteristic of Upper Paleolithic peoples, in contrast to Neanderthals:

Made cave paintings

What is an atlatl?

A spear thrower

Which of the following is a suggested way that people first came to the Western Hemisphere (North, Central, and South America)?

They followed big game, walking across Bering land bridge; They came from Asia in boats by following the edge of the ice; They came from Europe in boats by following the edge of the ice (All of the above)

An archeologist is unable to determine the purpose of an artifact from a past society. Therefore, the archeologist visits the living descendants of the society to see if they know what it is and possibly still use it. What is this method called?

Ethnographic analogy

Which of the following is an important tool making technique during the Upper Paleolithic?

Indirect percussion

When does blade technology become important according to the archeological record?

Upper Paleolithic

According to anthropological research, what is the role of paintings and carvings in the lives of people of the Upper Paleolithic?

They liked it-it was art for art's sake; It represents a visual aspect to ritual. For example "killin" a painted animal to insure successful hunt; It was the result of a neural mutation in the brain that lead to the modern mind-it represents a change in brain wiring rather than size (All of the above)

When do bone harpoons become commin in the archeological record?

Upper Paleolithic

During the Upper Paleolithic all of Europe, Asia, and most of Africa were cover by Glaciers.

False

At the end of the Upper Paleolithic the Maglemosian culture:

Live in forested areas in northern Europe and was dependent on hunting, fishing, and gathering plants.

What name do archaeologists give to the earliest human cultures in the Western Hemisphere?

Paleo-Indian

Jean Michel Chazine's research suggests that only men made the painted handprints found in caves during the Upper Paleolithic.

False

According to Dancing Skeletons, Malian babies die frequently from which of the following diseases?

Malaria

According to Dancing Skeletons, why does Dettwyler focus her nutrition education program on Vitamin A deficiency?

Because deficiency in Vitamin A is linked to death from diarrheal diseases.

In Dancing Skeletons, how many mothers had the midwife lost during her thirty years of practice?

1

According to class discussion on Dancing Skeletons, why does Dettwyler tell the aid worker that clean water and immunizations are not enough to save the children of the villages of northern Mali?

Because it means children die at later ages from malnutrition.

According to class discussion on Dancing Skeletons, How old are children in Mali supposed to be in first grade?

8

According to Dancing Skeletons, which part of the female anatomy do Malian men find sexiest?

Thighs

Katherine Dettwyler has three children.

True

According to class discussion on Dancing Skeletons, why is it beneficial for people in Mali to have many children?

For farming families, more children means more land can be cultivated. So more children means more wealth.

According to the class discussion on Dancing Skeletons, why was Dettwyler interested in 3rd molars?

She wanted to show that the adult Malian facial structure was large enough to accomodate them. This would debunk the idea that the "modern" human had smaller facial structure.

According to Dancing Skeletons, what is clan exogamy?

The preferred marriage partner is from a different clan

Which of the following Australopithecines is "robust?"

Australopithecus aethiopicus

Which of the following early hominids has the earliest dated specimens?

Australopithecus afarensis

Habitual bipeds (like humans) differ from quadupeds (like gorillas or chimps) in which of the following ways?

Pelvis shape, position of the foramen magnum, spinal column curves, length of legs (all of the above are ways in which habitual bipeds differ from quadrupeds)

In lecture the concept of the "costs of bipedalism" was discussed. Which of the following are not "costs of bipedalism?"

Increased length of hair on the head

Which occured first (earliest) in hominid evolution?

Bipedal locomotion

Which of the following has NOT been proposed as a reason for the development of bipedalism in human ancestors?

It is easier to spot predators; It frees the hands to carry tools; It is more efficient for long distance travel; It frees the hands to carry food (All of the above have been proposed)

According to the model presented in class, which of the following is NOT considered to be directly ancestral to modern humans?

Australopithecus aethiopicus

Robust australopithecines differed from gracile australopithecines. Which of the following statements accurately reflects how they differed?

Robusts had bigger muscles in their jaws for chewing hard foods.

Robust australopithecines have a ridge of bone located on the top of their skulls that anchored muscles called:

Sagittal crest

We know exactly which hominid specimen is the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees.

False

Which of the following was most different between Homo habilis and the australopithecines?

Size of brain

The earliest known stone tool tradition is called:

Oldowan

Why are tool making traditions evidence of culture?

Because it is evidence of learned, shared knowledge.

Which of the following is associated with Homo erectus?

A sagittal keel

We can be fairly certain that Homo erectus did all of the following EXCEPT:

Make cave paintings

Which of the following is NOT a place where Homo erectus fossils are found?

North America

The tool tradition most closely associated with Homo erectus is called:

Acheulian

The technique of striking a stone with another stone to alter it and make a tool is called:

Percussion flaking

A friend discovers that you are takin an anthropology class and excitedly shows you a rock she found that she believes is a stone tool. After a careful inspection, you agree with her. When she asks how you know you show her:

That the rock is in fact chert, commonly used for stone tool manufacturing; the presence of bilateral flaking; evidence of retouching (All of the items listed)

The population of three foot tall archaic Homo found in Indonesia from 500,000-10,000 years ago are identified as:

Homo floriensis

Compared to Neanderthals, anatomically modern humans have all of the following except:

Larger brains on average

One of the first examples of a funeral ritual by hominids:

is found at Shanidar by Neanderthal

Middle Paleolithic hominids lived in all of the following except:

Wooden houses

The shift from food collection to the production of food is called the _________ revolution.

Neolithic

For the pre-contact New World what were two of the most important domesticated animals?

The dog and the turkey

Of the following, wat was NOT an early consequence of food production?

Improving health

What is Broad Spectrum Collecting?

Collecting a wide variety of types of food (animal and plant)

Wild plants have a tough rachis; domesticated plants have a brittle or fragile rachis.

False

Which of the following is a true statement about the domestication of animals?

Domesticated animals tend to have smaller brains than their wild animal relatives do.

According to your textbook what is "Culture Readiness Theory"?

It is associated with Robert Braidwood. The theory says that food production developed when people had accumulated enough information about their environment.

Based on the archaeological record, what might be a reason for the decline and collapse of a state society?

Environmental degradation

Which of the following is NOT proposed as the reason for the development of the state?

Social stratification

Where did the earliest states emerge? How long ago?

Near East (Sumeria), 5500 years ago

Which of the following is NOT a consequence of state formation experienced by the people who live in state societies?

A decrease in social stratification

Which of the following is NOT a true statement about the characteristics of state societies?

State societies: have large dense populations; have full time specialists(folks who have jobs other than farming); have an official artistic style, often with monumental architecture; are stratified, with a ruling elite at the top (All of the above are true statements about state societies)

According to you textbook, which theory on the origin of the state is associated with Wittfogel?

Irrigation or hydraulic theory

Archaeologically, how can we tell that stratification has emerged?

By examining items buried with people-grave goods; Variation in the size of dwellings; Written documents indicating that people have different rights and privileges based on their social status (All of the above may occur as archaeoligical evidence supporting the emergence of stratification)

What does it mean to say, "culture is integrated"?

It means that practices or traits are consistent with one another

Which of the following is NOT one of the features and assumptions of culture presented in class?

Which of the following terms could be described as "The belief that one's own way of life is superior to others"?

Ethnocentrism

Which of the following perspective(s) to cross-cultural understanding?

The "Noble Savage" and Ethnocentrism

The attitude of cultural relativism__________.

encourages us to view a society's customs and ideas within the context of that society's problems and opportunities.

Which of the following is NOT a true statement?

American Sign Language (ASL) is not a true language according to anthropologists because it is not a spoken language

What is the difference between culture and society?

A society is a group of people occupying a specific locality, who are dependent on each other for survival. A culture is shared and socially transmitted ideas, values, and perceptions which are used to make sense of experience and generate behavior.

Culture is dynamic and always changing. Which of the following is a way that a culture might change?

Someone invents a new way of doing something; Contact with another culture; A volcano erupts and buries the capital city (All of the above are ways that cultures may change)

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that:

Language is a force in its own right, which it affects how individuals in a society perceive and conceive reality

There is substantial scientific evidence to suggest that there is a structure in the brain that allows humans to be ready to learn language at birth. What is this structure called?

Language acquisition device

Which of the following is considered paralanguage?

Laughing

According to your textbook, if a language has a basic color term for yellow it is most likely to also have a color term for:

red

Children learn spoken language:

At about the same age in all cultures

Historical linguists reconstruct features of ancient languages:

By comparing related contemporary languages and making inferences about their common ancestor and the way each language diverged from the ancestral language

Some primates, such as Koko the Gorilla, appear to engage in symbolic communication.

True

When people grow foods using hand tools in the absence of permanently cultivated fields we call this___________.

Horticulture

The subsistence strategy that characterized most of human history was:

food foraging/food collection

Which of the following is a characteristic of pastoralist societies?

Dependency on trade with agriculturalists

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of agricultural societies?

Densely populated areas; sedentary way of life; complex social stratification; permanently cultivated fields (All of the above are characteristic of agricultural societies)

By food collection, anthropologists mean obtaining food from:

Wild plants and animals

According to your textbook, the Samoans do all of the following EXCEPT:

Plow the land

The change form food collection to food production first occured approximately _______ years ago.

10,000

All societies divide labor by ______ and _______.

Age, gender

____________ is the accumulation of goods by a particular person, or in a particular place, for the purpose of subsequent distribution.

Redistribution

Among pastoral nomads, wealth is usually measured in _________.

Animals

According to your textbook, the Kula ring is an example of:

Balanced reciprocity

When goods or services are given to another without calculating the value of the gift or specifying the time of repayment, it is called:

Generalized reciprocity

Which of the following would an anthropologist categorize as technology?

A laptop computer; The instruction manual for the laptop computer; An Acheulian hand-axe (All of the above)

Of the following economic systems, which one is most likely to have individual ownership of land?

Intensive agriculturalists

You read about an agricultural society where women are expected to be responsible for all the work within the house, and men are responsible for all the work in the fields and caring for the domesticated animals (except guinea pigs, which live in the house). In the story you read, the village elders are punishing a family for letting women plow in the fields behind oxen which to them is disgraceful and unthinkable behavior. What patterns of division of labor is described here?

Sexually segregated

According to Monique and the Mango Rains, Monique delivers multiple kinds of health care. Which of the following is NOT health care Monique delivers?

According to Monique and the Mango Rains, who receives Monique's salary?

Louis, her husband's father

According to Monique and the Mango Rains, why is it problematic for Oumou to have contraception?

She doesn't have any money to pay for it

According to Monique and the Mango Rains, what happens to Fatumata and Bakary as a result of the Coup d'etat?

Nothing happens

A society is practicing which form of stratification when the members of the society have equal access to economic resources and prestige?

Egalitarian

A ______ is a ranked group in which membership is determined at birth and marriage is restricted to members of one's own group.

Caste

The probability that an individual will remain in the class of their birth in an open class system is:

High

Industrial societies are noted for having unequal access to economic resources (wealth), power, and prestige. What type of stratification exists?

Class

Which of the following is FALSE statement about social stratification?

Caste system societies have no social stratification

In all societies with slavery, slaves do not have_________?

Ownership of their labor.

Which type of society generally is the least stratified?

Food collection

Anthropologists are reasonably certain that class stratification is as old as Homo sapiens

False

What percentage do not allow women to participate in warfare?

88%

Which of the following is a secondary subsistence activity?

Grinding corn

According to the ______ theory, men may produce musical instruments from wood because men are the ones who collect the wood in the first place and probably understand its properties better.

Economy of effort theory

According to your textbook, which of the following is a characteristic of women's status among the Iroquois?

They had a great deal of say over who the group's leaders were

According to material presented in class, homosexual behavior is:

More tolerated in societies not focused on increaing population

Human males tend to have a narrow pelvis. Human females tend to have a wide pelvis. This type of difference between human sexes is an example of:

Sexual dimorphism

Cross-cultural research discussed in class supports the idea that females are genetically pre-disposed to be aggressive as a personality trait. Thus the relative lack of females in position of political power is entirely cultural in origin, as the aggression is supposed through socialization.

False

"Bacha posh" is a gender concept associated with which society?

Afghan

Marriage is considered a dominant trait by anthropologists because it is practiced by all societies

False

In which type of societies are women most likely to contribute more labor than men to secondary subsistence?

Intensive agriculture

Which of the following is NOT a probable explanation for why marriage occurs in societies?

It provides guaranteed sexual satisfaction

A __________ is a custom whereby a oman is obliged to marry her sister's widower.

Sororate

A nuclear family might include all of the following except:

A married uncle

Which of the following forms of marriage is most common worldwide?

Monogamy/serial monogamy

Which of the following terms may be defined as one man married to multiple women?

Polygyny

Which of the following is true about the woman/woman marriage custom found among the Nandi?

It enables a woman without sons to inherit a share of her husband's property; it enables the woman who is the "wife" of the female husband to raise her status and live a more secure life; it enables the female "husband" to raise her status by becoming the "mother" of sons

Among societies practicing the custom, which is the most common economic marriage transaction?

Bride price

Which theory suggests that the incest taboo is associated with avoiding the adverse effects of sexual activity interfering with family cohesiveness?

The "family disruption" theory

Most people in the city of Omaha practice which system of kinship terminology?

Eskimo (Inuit)

Which of the following would not be a function of a unilineal descent group?

Dictate subsistence patterns

Two of the following systems of kinship terminology do not identify parallel cousins by the same term as brothers and sisters. Which two is it?

Sudanese and Eskimo (Inuit)

Which residence pattern is most closely linked to resource availability?

Ambilocal

What is the most common form of marital residence pattern?

Patrilocal

_____________ may be defined as the beliefs and patterns of behavior by which people try to control those aspects of the universe that are otherwise beyond their control

Religion

A polytheistic religion recognizes______ gods, none of which is __________.

Many, supreme

Who us considered to have the correct theory about the origins of religion?

None of the above

Animism may be described as:

A belief in a physical visible body and an invisible psychic soul

When an individual attempts to compel the supernatural to act on their behalf, which of the following is always true.

Magic is being performed

________ are generally part-time religious specialists who may also engage in healing activities.

Shamans

Which form of religious ritual is an attempt to get the supernatural to provide practical answers or guidance about anything in life that is troublesome?

Divination

According to Monique and the Mango Rains, what happens to Pascal?

He dies in a skirmish in Liberia

According to Monique and the Mango Rains, what is the division of labor on the communal field?

Men plow the field, women plant the field

According to Monique and the Mango Rains, what is Monique's hesitation about visiting the U.S.?

She is concerned about being able to hang onto the plane long enough

According to Monique and the Mango Rains, what do the villagers like to watch on the first TV in the village?

Jackie Chan and marial arts entertainment

According to Monique and the Mango Rains, what is Fatumata's parting gift to Monique

A pearl necklace

According to Monique and the Mango Rains, what does Maxime do to honor Monique?